New insights on AI challenges and opportunities

By Traci Gusher

In a new report by KPMG, we look at how AI is being implemented across five industries: healthcare, financial services, transportation, technology and retail. It shows that while there is some variation in AI adoption across industries, there is also a depth of engagement that is highly encouraging.

There were a number of notable findings:

While two-thirds of insiders feel AI adoption is moving at an appropriate speed within their industry, most respondents still wish their organizations would be more aggressive in adopting AI technology.
Most industry insiders within technology (57 percent), transportation (69 percent), healthcare (52 percent) and retail (64 percent) feel that AI is more hype than reality right now, with financial services (42 percent) being the exception.
While confidence in employees’ preparedness for AI adoption is highest among C-level leaders (79 percent), it is much lower among managers (38 percent), who are more likely to work directly with employees on a daily basis and have a better understanding of their skill sets.

Most importantly, the report demonstrates that AI is starting to have real impact. Across industries, respondents report that AI is changing the way they do business – from improving access to medical care in the healthcare field to mitigating customer service issues in retail.

All this is heartening, but we shouldn’t declare victory quite yet. In our experience, executives at times underestimate AI’s “time to value” – how much effort is required to implement AI and see notable results. True business value only emerges when AI implementation has been tightly linked to business strategy and when AI-powered output has progressed into normal business as usual operations far enough to yield substantive value.

So, while we should certainly celebrate AI’s progress, we need to remain focused on helping it take firm root in our organizations. First and foremost, that means building our teams’ AI literacy which is a workforce management challenge.

In parallel with managing organizational and workforce change is ensuring that organizations are building and managing AI responsibly. It’s important that AI rests on a solid ethical foundation. We must eliminate unfair bias from AI algorithms not only at their inception but throughout their lifecycle. Ensuring this requires strong governance and control systems.

None of this, however, takes away from the significant progress these industries have achieved in integrating AI into their organizations.

It’s evident from this research that we are now living in an AI world. If businesses can overcome the challenges, they stand to see even greater returns in the coming years.

For more information or to arrange an interview with Traci Gusher, please contact Melanie Batley.